I was invited to do some work for a hotel in the city of Ajigasawa on the northern coast of the Sea of Japan in Aomori Prefecture. The hotel people treated me like a king and served me a dinner of what the Japanese would consider to be a gourmet specialty – half of which was biblically unclean seafood which I couldn’t eat! But the breakfast was fantastic, a smorgasbord … Continue reading →
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1children of a couple who took me to a parking area on the Hokuriku Expressway. Trip 1: From Niigata to Osaka Japan enjoys a string of holidays from April 29 to May 5th known as Golden Week. I took advantage of this time to travel. On May 2, 2010, I hitchhiked to Osaka from Niigata, a distance of 585 kilometers in 10 cars. Five of the cars were married couples … Continue reading →
April 19, 2010: I had intended to hitchhike back home on Sunday morning but stayed in Aomori city in northern Honshu an extra day to deal with a friend’s PC problem. Hitchhiking on a weekend or a holiday is always easier. There are more cars on the road with families traveling longer distances. Weekdays, and especially a Monday mean people traveling for business reasons, and they are usually not in … Continue reading →
April 6, 2010: Today is the 11th and last day of my trip. The highlight was to meet Tsutomu and Keiko who took me from Gunma prefecture to the Miyoko parking area in Niigata. They are a married couple in their mid 40s who live in Chiba and work as hair stylists. The interchange Tsutomu and Keiko intended to exit the expressway was a convenient one for me to continue … Continue reading →
Muslims praying just after sunset at Fujikawa Service area on the Tomei expressway in Shizuoka prefecture. The cherry blossoms over their heads are in full bloom. April 3, 2010: Osaka was still cold but sunny when I arrived at the Suita Service area on the Meishin expressway at 10:30 AM. The Meishin expressway runs from Nagoya to Kobe. The first driver took me to Gozaisho on the Shin (new) meishin … Continue reading →
March 27, 2010: Today is the first day of an extended hitchhiking adventure to southern Japan. I left home at 7:30AM. The weather was unusually fair for normally-cloudy Niigata. The first stop was Kariwa, a village next to Kashiwazaki city and home to the largest nuclear power plant in the world. Since a major earthquake just off shore Kariwa in the Sea of Japan, two of the 9 nuclear reactors … Continue reading →
Mr. and Mrs. Ii who went out of their way to take me to Niigata City March 22, 2010: It was unusually windy with a few snow flurries, and the temperature was just one degree above freezing when I left my friend’s house in Aomori city at 7:30 AM to walk to the National Highway route 7. I’ve hitchhiked on this highway before, but this morning people seemed unusually hard … Continue reading →
A couple soon to be married who took me from Murakami city toward Yamagata Princess, the Shih Tsu dog that I have been caring for since December is now with new owners. I’m now free to continue to travel Japan, meet people, share my faith, and visit Family International Homes throughout the country. On February 19th I left home and arrived in Aomori city the next day. It was beautiful … Continue reading →
Hitomi (27) who took me back home Princess the little Shih Tsu dog I am temporally taking care of was taken to be shampooed, and this set me free from caring for her to do other things. It’s a beautiful sunny day in normally cloudy Niigata and so I just had to grab the opportunity to get out again, hitchhike and meet people. The first driver was a man who … Continue reading →
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1Kevin and Yuriko Jan. 10: I had to make an emergency trip to Oyama city in Tochigi prefecture to fix a PC. Oyama city is a good 270 kilometers from home. It was snowing this morning, not a particularly good day to hitchhike! In order to save time and avoid hitchhiking during the snowfall, I took a train to a station about 30 kilometers away from where I hoped to … Continue reading →
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2The year is almost over and I probably won’t be going on the road again this month. Last night I added up the distances hitchhiked this year and they totaled to 19,530 kilometers. This is nearly 1000 more kilometers traveled compared to my previous record of 18,537 kilometers hitchhiked in 2005!
Continue reading →The red line shows my trip. From November 30th to December 5th, I circled central Japan and reached my year-end goal of 90,000 kilometers distance hitchhiked from August 2003. In 16 vehicles I covered 1420 kilometers passing through Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka. This trip also broke my previous record of 2005 of kilometers traveled in one year. An interesting person I met on the way to Tokyo was a … Continue reading →
University professor Dr. A. Kusumi who took me to Niigata from Hirosaki city in Aomori Prefecture Again I went to Aomori city and back, 1060 kilometers, this time in 12 vehicles which includes two trucks. The highlight of the trip was to meet A. Kusumi, a professor who teaches environmental research at a university in Nagoya. I met him at the entrance of the Tohoku Expressway near Hirosaki. His car … Continue reading →
November 29, 2009: While hitchhiking to town I noticed a lady walking toward me from a distance with what appeared to be her car parked by the side of the road behind her. I correctly assumed she was going to offer me a ride. She had another lady friend with her who was the driver. They seemed a bit overly impressed to meet me which caused me to become suspicious. … Continue reading →
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1A man who took me to Murakami City in Niigata Prefecture October 30, 2009: I needed to be in Odate City in Akita Prefecture on November 1st for an appointment at 9:00 AM. Odate is the birthplace of Hachiko, the faithful dog that would come to meet his master at Shibuya Station in Tokyo when he arrived returning from work. Hachiko continued to do this every evening — even after … Continue reading →
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1Asari Toru who drove me a distance of 200 kilometers October 25: I’m in Aomori city and on the way back home to Niigata. Rather than go back the way I came along National Route #7, I decided to try the Tohoku expressway that runs through Sendai. The first driver was on his way back home to Akita City after attending a Rugby match in Aomori. He offered to take … Continue reading →
The good Lord blessed my efforts and a man driving a truck, Mr. Kawamoto, picked me up after only a few minutes and took me all the way to the door of my destination! At first Mr. Kawamoto said he would take me to Hirosaki, about 3/4 of the way to Aomori City, but then he said if I wasn’t in a hurry, he would take me to Aomori city … Continue reading →
Route 49 by Lake Inawashiro, Fukushima Prefecture October 14, 2009: Today I went to Sendai via the same route I took on my adventure to Aomori via Fukushima on Sept. 17, 2009. I thought it would be a piece of cake considering that Sendai is only 290 kilometers or a bit less than half the distance to Aomori. This time, however, I got stuck at Aizuwakamatsu City in Fukushima for … Continue reading →
Northern Honshu, Japan October 11, 2009: I was in Mutsu City in the Shimokita peninsula in Aomori prefecture of northern Japan. As you can see on the map, the top of the red line was my starting point and the end of the line is Noheji city which was my destination. I started out 11:30AM and had to be at Noheji city by 2PM in order to catch a train … Continue reading →
A mother and daughter who went out of the way to take me to my destination. Oct. 3, 2009: It rained hard during the evening and early morning, but by 9 AM the rain subsided. I needed to go to Kanazawa city in Ishikawa Prefecture for business the next day and opted to hitchhike rather than taking the bus in spite of the possibility of more rain later. I’m sure … Continue reading →
